Gambia tightens noose on dissenters – Amnesty

Critics of Gambia’s government are increasingly fearful of arrest, torture and imprisonment as the west African nation clamps down on free speech ahead of polls expected to land President Yahya Jammeh a fifth term, Amnesty International said Thursday. Opposition politicians, journalists, human rights defenders and religious figures have all faced a crackdown on their right to express themselves and organise peacefully, according to an Amnesty report entitled “Dangerous to dissent”. “Consistent patterns of violations… have created a broader climate of fear that extends to other sections of society, in which the dominant response is one of self-censorship,” the report said.